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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to a packed house at Edison High School on June 4, 2016 in Fresno just days before the California presidential primary. Clinton attacked Republican foe Donald Trump – a tactic many say clinched her the Democratic nomination from rival Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Larry Valenzuela/The Rampage)

We’re with her: Ready for Madam President

It’s time to end the conservative Republican press spin cycle that tarnishes the value of Hillary Clinton’s long-running history of tireless public service.

Clinton has battled negative press cycle time after time and come out of each maintaining her own personalized brand of poise and integrity.

She has built a career on a foundation of hard work and identity and has always chosen to follow her own path – not one paved by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, the harsh and critical conservative right or opposing candidates on the left.

Conservative Republicans use every excuse in the book to dismiss Clinton’s years of public service and pull the few cards they can to call her “crooked” or “criminal.” The truth, as it stands, is that Hillary Clinton is the candidate who is going to put the needs of her country first. Hillary’s America is a more perfect union that stands on a foundation of diversity, liberty and the opportunity for everyone to make a better life for themselves.

Painting Clinton as crooked or misguided based on the decisions her husband has made, in and out of office, is exactly the kind of problematic language that deters people. It’s time for voters, particularly on the right, to see that Hillary Clinton is what America needs.

From the beginning, Clinton has been determined to separate her own political career from that of her husband. While still being supportive of Bill’s political endeavours, she’s also kept her own political aspirations a priority. At the root of her political career, she carried a determination to build a name without any help and spent the first decade of her marriage without the surname of Clinton to prove that.

Hillary is not her husband’s past transgressions. If anything, her ability to remain poised and weather the political firestorm of her husband’s affair only makes her stronger and more able for the position of president.

While we’re debunking conservative excuses to write Clinton off as a crook, it’s finally the time to address 33,000 reasons why anyone would have trouble voting for her: Clinton’s email scandal.

To use one bureaucratic misstep as a reason to label someone with the slanderous titles of “criminal” or “crooked” contributes to one of the biggest political double standards in recent history.

It’s hypocritical for the conservative right to use Clinton’s email scandal as a reason to slander her for two particular reasons. The first being that she was advised to use a separate server by former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell, the second being there are more than two million emails between 2003 and 2009 from the George W. Bush administration that were lost and never accounted for. With further investigation, those email blackouts seem strategic, when talks of an Iraq invasion were developing.

However, no one rushed to call Bush’s administration “crooked” or discredit his presidency.

For some reason, politicians are expected to be perfect people never capable of making mistakes. However, there is no such thing.

As much as some voters want to convince themselves otherwise, politicians everywhere are doing less-than-honest things behind closed doors. During the 2014 congressional election, almost $1 million dollars was spent on campaign contributions by the National Rifle Association, as well as more than $3 million dollars in lobbying between 2013 and 2014.

Organizations like the NRA do this to keep congressional leaders in office who are in favor of their special interests. No politician is unfamiliar to big-dollar donations that keep their campaigns going.

Anyone who criticizes Clinton but subsequently chooses to overlook the lost emails of the Bush administration contributes to the problematic political double standard.

In addition to the emails, Hillary also faces criticism for the way the 2012 Benghazi attacks were handled on account of her and the entire Barack Obama administration.

In response to the attacks, Hillary took full responsibility and then took steps to ensure that nothing like Benghazi would happen under her watch again.

After taking the fall, Hillary stated “It also meant launching an independent investigation to determine exactly what happened in Benghazi and to recommend steps for improvement. And it also meant intensifying our efforts to combat terrorism and support emerging democracies in North Africa and beyond.”

Hillary took the fault and then quickly took steps to correct whatever she could in the time that she had.

That’s what Hillary Clinton does. She takes the liability for her missteps and then does what she can to repair the situation. In a more perfect union filled with less than perfect people, Hillary’s grace and integrity under pressure are what America needs more now than ever.

Right out of Yale Law, Hillary could have worked at any prestigious law firm.

Instead, she began working with the Children’s Defense Fund. She dedicated her earliest work in law to interviewing migrant workers’ families about the state of their health and education.

Social justice has always been a priority in Clinton’s political career. Historically, she has prioritized the needs of disadvantaged and disabled children and found ways to bridge inequities and solve problems of diverse socioeconomic situations.

Hillary’s stance on issues reflects the growth of America as a diverse country with diverse needs.

She has always stood strong and tall for paid maternity leave, having fought for it even since her tenure as a New York senator.

Clinton also believes in a more fair tax code and cutting and simplifying taxes for small businesses so that they’re able to grow. To reflect the rising costs middle-class families are facing, Hillary plans to provide tax relief for those facing high health costs that might include caring for an ailing family member.

She also believes in fair taxation and closing ridiculous tax loopholes created by the most fortunate and ensuring that millionaires can no longer pay a rate lower than their secretaries.

In addition, she promises to make college an opportunity for all and her aim is that no family with an income below $125,000 will pay tuition at public colleges and universities. In addition to this, she promises students from families making less than $85,000 a year will be able to go to an in-state public college or university without paying any tuition at all.

For those out of college, Hillary proposes that debt won’t hold them back and the government will never profit from student loans. College students would be able to refinance their student loans for whatever the most current interest rate will be.

Women, children and college students shouldn’t be considered less than people just because they’re not powerful men with money to spare. So often women and children are overlooked because they have less of a voice when it comes to politics.

In addition to her countless titles in public service, she could also add the name “History Maker” to her list of accomplishments. She has the possibility to be the first female president of the United States, and if there’s any way to continue the legacy of change and hope Obama built through his administration, it’s through opening the doors of the White House to Hillary Clinton.

Fortunately, Hillary Clinton has built a career in helping the underdog and ensuring a safe and secure future for all – no matter their race, culture or socioeconomic status.